phelps



(No Model.)

. L J. PHELPS.

APPARATUS FOR MAINTAINING ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATION WITH MQVING 'VEHIGLEY- 7 No. 329,076. Patentd Oct. 27, 1885.

" Unirrnn STATES ATENT j triers,

LUCIUS J. PHELPS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AWARATUS FOR MAINTAINING ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATION WITH MOVING VEHICLES.

ijlfECItIt-IECATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 329,076, datedwatcher 27, 1885.

Application filed February 20, 1885. Serial No. 156,498. (No model.)

I 0 allwhom it'may concern:

Be it known that I, Lucius J. PnnLrs, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forlilaintaining Electrical Communication with Moving Vehicles orObjects,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to those systems of maintaining electricalcommunication with vehicles moving or at rest which are described in myprior patents and applications for patcuts, and which consists,essentially, of a conductor parallel to the path of the vehicle and anapparatus upon the vehicle carried in sub siantially continuousinductive relation to said conductor, so that without electric contactthe currents produced in the line-conductor may act upon the apparatusin the vehicle, and, vice versa, the devices on the latter may byinduction produce currents in the line-conductor.

My present invention relates more especially to arrangements of circuitsand apparatus where my invention is applied to a doubletrack railway,and its object is to reduce the resistance to the currents transmit-tedfrom a fixed stationsuch,for instance, as a traindispatchersoffice--over the line circuit or cirnits, and at the same time toprovide such an arrangement that when a message is being received atsuch otfice the disturbing effects of eartircurrents, or of inductionfrom other neighboring circuits,1nay be as far as possible avoided.

My invention consists, essentially, in the combinatiomwith the up anddown track conductors grounded at a distant point, of a ground at thetransmitting station and a switch for connecting both track-conductorssimultaneously to said ground, or connecting them to one another throughthe receiving instrument at such office, so that when said-instrument isin use it may be in a complete metallic circuit, formed of the twotrack-conductors,and when the transmitting apparatus is in use it may beconnectedinto circuit between the two conductors and a ground, thecircuit being in this case completed by the ground at the distant point.

an understanding of my present invention, I

shall not describe the same in detail. For a full description of thesame reference may be had to my prior patents.

In'the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram of circuits andapparatus, showing one way of carrying out my present invention. Fig. 2is a side elevation of a railway-car carrying a coil, one portion ofwhich is arranged to move parallel to a line-conductorsupported betweenthe railway-rails and upon the road bed.

D and E indicate the two tracks of adoubletrack railway, and F Fconductors suitably supported or arranged between the rails in themanner described in my prior Patent No. 312,506,0r mounted or supportedin any other way, or in any other position, such that the portion G ofthe conductor or coil upon the vehicle moving over either line or railsshall be in continuous inductive proximity to the conductorF or P.

A indicates a train-dispatchers office or other fixed station, havingapparatus for receiving or transmitting signals over the conductors F Fand by induction to or from the apparatus on a vehicle at a distantpoint, either at the end of the railway or of a section thereof, theconductors FF are connected together and grounded. At the office A theyare connected to aswitch of any suitable kind,whereby they may beconnected both to earth through the transmitting apparatus here typifiedby a key, K, and a galvanic battery, M B, or may be connected togetherthrough the receiving apparatus typified in the present instance by atelephone, T. The construction of switch for making such connections isimmaterial,and any form may be used therefor. The form shown is a simpleand obvious one, and consists merely of the two levers L L, connected attheir pivots to the lines F F, and having contact studs or points, fourin number, two of which, a a, are connected to the terminals of thereceiver, while the remaining two, I) b, are connected to the key,battery,and ground. As will be obvious in the position shown, there is acomplete metallic circuit formed ofv the two conductors F F*, connectedat their distant ends, and of the switch and receiver connections at thestations A. Under this condition of the circuits and apparatus signalsmay be received from a vehicle upon either line of rails; but as thecircuit is a metallic circuit the disturbing effects of earth-currentsare eliminated,while, moreover, owing to the fact that the conductors FF are parallel,and constitute substantially the leading and return wiresof the circuit, induction from neighboring conductors strung on polesbeside the track, or otherwise located, is largely neutralized.

When signals are to be sent over the'conductors F F from the station Ato a car or station upon either line of rails, or to a station havinginductive connection with either wire or conductoras, for instance, by alocal circuit, m, in part parallel to said conductor the conductors F F,one or both, are grounded and circuit is then formed through the groundat the distant point. Under those conditionsthat is, with aground-returny less battery is required than would ordinarily be thecase if the circuit were still a metallic one. I have shown theswitch-levers L L as connected by a cross-bar,so that they are bothmoved; but it is obvious that they might be worked independently, so asto permit either conductor F F to be connected to ground in dependentlyof the ot-l1er,which might be done in case it were necessary only tosend a signal over one of the wires F F from the fixed station A. Thiswould of course be entirely within my invention.

If the grounded circuit were through but one circuit,it is obvious thatthe whole effects of the transmitting battery would be feltthereon,instead of being divided between the two conductors.

What I claim as my invention is l. The combination, with the twoconductors, one for each track, and grounded, of a receiving andtransmitting apparatus at a station and a switch for connecting saidconductors to one another through the receiver or to ground through thetransmitting apparatus. I

2. The combination, with the two conductors F F, substantially parallelto one another, and a ground ata distant point, of areceiver, a switchfor connecting the said conductors with one another-through thereceiver, and a ground at the same station normally, or when thereceiver is in use, disconnected'from both conductors F F, saidground,with that at the distant point,serving to make the circuit whensignals are to be transmitted over a track-conductor and by inductivetransfer to an apparatus in inductive proximity thereto.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,this 19th day of February, A. D. 1885.

LUCIUS J PHELPS.

Witnesses:

THOS. TooMEY, Gno. 0. 00mm.

